For example, iMacs come standard with a lot of things like the webcam, microphone, speakers, and suites of software, so that one can, for example, make a podcast right out of the box without getting anything else. As an example, my podcast of Radio Schizo I could do immediately after getting my iMac, and very easily, with no extra equipment needed, whereas on a PC it would have had to have beenc obbled together with a variety of different things and after purchasing a microphone and other stuff. It'd definitely have been possible, but harder. It "feels better" to be doing it on a Mac -- easier, like it's more possible and no big deal. On a PC, to me at least, it'd feel like a mre complex task. It's this hard-to-quantify aspect that makes Macs superior for a lot of folks.
On a Windows machine, you can download some free things to do podcasts, like Audacity (also free for Macs, too), which is inferior to making podcasts than Garageband, which comes out of the box on Macs, but the the speakers, microphone, etc. will cost you extra. And that's just one small example for one small thing (podcasts). (And you can whip up your own home recording studio with this, easily as well!) Photos and DVD editing, etc., are also possible with powerful materials right out of the box.
There is the cult of Steve Jobs and of Apple -- the "branding thing" I alluded to -- and that is annoying. I hate that aspect of it. But that's no reason to avoid a computer. Overall it's a more elegant machine that simply comes able to do much more stuff out of the box than Frankenstein Windows PCs, which are also less user friendly. The pricing is increasingly competitive.
-B.
Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:
"That is my impression too - Mac seems to me an overpriced gadget owing his reptation mainly too its maketing of "coolness" rather than technology, which I understand is on a par with a PC if not inferior."